An intriguing discovery in the field of multiple stellar populations in globular clusters is that some of them show internal variations in the bulk of the heavy-element content. I summarize the chemical properties of one of these clusters, M22, in comparison with the most extreme ω Centauri, underlying the analogies and differences between the two objects.

This talk covers preliminary work in which we apply a strictly differential line-by-line chemical abundance analysis to high quality UVES spectra of the globular cluster NGC 6752. We achieve extremely high precision in the measurement of relative abundance ratios. Our results indicate that the observed abundance dispersion exceeds the measurement uncertainties and that many pairs of elements show significant correlations when plotting [X1/H] vs. [X2/H]. Our tentative conclusions are that either NGC 6752 is not chemically homogeneous at the ≃0.03 dex level or the abundance variations and correlations signify star-to-star He abundance variations.

The advent of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the development of new photometric algorithms that take advantage of its stable observing platform above the atmosphere have allowed us to study the populations in globular clusters with very high precision.

The infrared channel of the Wide-Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope revealed multiple main sequences of very low-mass stars in the globular clusters NGC 2808 and ω Cen. In this paper I summarize the observational facts and provide a possible interpretation.

We have discovered that Terzan 5, a stellar system in the Galactic Bulge, harbors two stellar populations with different iron content (Δ[Fe/H] ~ 0.5 dex) and possibly different ages. Moreover, the observed chemical patterns significantly differ from those observed in any known genuine globular cluster. These evidences demonstrate that, similarly to ω Centauri in the Halo, Terzan 5 is not a globular cluster, but a stellar system that was able to retain the gas ejected by violent supernova explosions. Moreover the striking chemical similarity with the Bulge stars suggests that Terzan 5 could be the relic of one of the massive clumps that contributed (through strong dynamical interactions with other pre-formed and internally-evolved sub-structures) to the formation of the Galactic Bulge.

In these last years a huge amount of both spectroscopical and photometric data has provided a plain evidence of the fact that Galactic globular clusters (GCs) host various stellar sub-populations characterized by peculiar chemical patterns. The need of properly interpreting the various observational features observed in the Color-Magnitude Diagrams (CMDs) of these stellar systems requires a new generation of stellar models properly accounting for these chemical peculiarities both in the stellar model computations and in the color - Teff transformations. In this review we discuss the evolutionary framework that is mandatory in order to trace the various sub-populations in any given GC.

Increasing number of massive globular clusters (GCs) in the Milky Way are now turned out to host multiple stellar populations having different heavy element abundances enriched by supernovae. Recent observations have further shown that [CNO/Fe] is also enhanced in metal-rich subpopulations in most of these GCs, including ω Cen and M22 (Marino et al. 2011, 2012). In order to reflect this in our population modeling, we have expanded the parameter space of Y2 isochrones and horizontal-branch (HB) evolutionary tracks to include the cases of normal and enhanced nitrogen abundances ([N/Fe] = 0.0, 0.8, and 1.6). The observed variations in the total CNO content were reproduced by interpolating these nitrogen enhanced stellar models. Our test simulations with varying N and O abundances show that, once the total CNO sum ([CNO/Fe]) is held constant, both N and O have almost identical effects on the HR diagram (see Fig. 1).

We discuss the yields from Asymptotic Giant Branch stars, depending on their mass and metallicity. In agreement with previous investigations, we find that the extent of Hot Bottom Burning increases with mass. The yields of models with chemistry typical of high–metallicity Globular Clusters, i.e. Z = 0.008, show only a modest depletion of magnesium, and an oxgen depletion of ~ 0.4 dex. Low–metallicity yields show a much stronger magnesium depletion, and a dramatic drop in the oxygen content, ~ 1.2dex smaller than the initial value. We suggest that the Globular Cluster NGC 2419 is a possible target to the hypothesis of the self–enrichment scenario of Globular Clusters by the winds of Asymptotic Giant Branch stars.

The results of numerous spectroscopic and photometric studies have revealed the presence of multiple stellar populations in many globular clusters. In this paper we summarize the results of our recent studies on the dynamical evolution of multiple-population clusters, the implications of the structural properties of multiple-population clusters for the evolution of binary stars, and the possible contribution of globular clusters to the assembly of the Galactic halo.

We numerically investigate the formation processes of globular clusters (GCs) in gas-rich dwarf galaxies at high redshifts. Our particular focus is on how the first and second generations of stars can be formed from high-density gas clouds in dwarf galaxies. We find that massive stellar clumps first form from massive gas clumps that are developed from local gravitational instability in gas-rich dwarfs. These stellar clumps with masses larger than ~ 2 × 106 M⊙ can finally become the first generation of stars in GCs. After supernova explosion expels the remaining gas in the clumps, stars can form from eject of AGB stars that is accreted onto the central regions of the clumps (i.e., first generation of stars). The compact clusters of these stars have much higher densities and a significant amount of internal rotation (~ 5 km s−1) in comparison with the first generation and thus correspond to the second generation.

We summarize the results presented in Krause et al. (2012a, K12) on the impact of supernova-driven shells and dark-remnant accretion on gas expulsion in globular cluster infancy.

Lyman-α emitting (LAE) galaxies observed at intermediate to high redshift have the correct size, mass, star formation rate, metallicity, and space density to have been the formation sites of metal-poor globular clusters. LAEs are typically small galaxies with transient starbursts. They should accrete onto spiral and elliptical galaxies over time, delivering metal-poor clusters into the larger galaxies' halos as they themselves get dispersed by tidal forces. The galaxy WLM is a good example of a dwarf remnant from a very early starburst that contains a metal-poor globular cluster but failed to get incorporated into the Milky Way or M31 because of its remote location in the local group.

Several dynamical scenarios have been proposed that can lead to prompt mass segregation on the crossing time scale of a young cluster. They generally rely on cool and/or clumpy initial conditions, and are most relevant to small systems. As a counterpoint, we present a novel dynamical mechanism that can operate in relatively large, homogeneous, cool or cold systems. This mechanism may be important in understanding the assembly of large mass-segregated clusters from smaller clumps.

This is an overview of nuclear star cluster observations, covering their structure, stellar populations, kinematics and possible connection to black holes at the centers of galaxies.

This talk is an attempt to combine recent insights into the nature of the nuclear star clusters in galaxies of various morphologies into a coherent (albeit simplistic) picture for their formation, growth, and eventual destruction.

This contribution briefly summarizes the current state of our knowledge about the Milky Way's nuclear star cluster.

I briefly explore some relevant connections and differences between the evolutionary paths of dwarf galaxies and globular clusters.

We present the star formation histories (SFHs) of four isolated dwarf galaxies, Cetus, Tucana, LGS-3, and Phoenix, as a function of galactocentric radius. Our results suggest that beyond some distance from the center, there are no significative differences in fundamental properties of these galaxies, such as the star formation rate (SFR) or age-metallicity relation (AMR). The stellar content of this region would be composed of old (≳ 10.5 Gyr) metal-poor stars only. In the innermost regions, dwarf galaxies appear to have formed stars during time intervals which duration varies from galaxy to galaxy. This extended star formation produces the dichotomy between dwarf spheroidal (dSph) and dwarf Transition (dTr) galaxy types.

It seems that in the past decade, there have been two paradigm shifts regarding star clusters. Firstly, the observational evidence for multiple stellar populations requires more extended and often complex star formation histories in star clusters. Secondly, theoretical models that form globular clusters in dwarf galaxies that are accreted at very early epochs (z > 5) are able to reproduce the age-metallicity relations observed. For the accretion scenario to be viable, globular clusters should also resemble the chemistry of at least some dwarf galaxies.

The primary data product of a recent Keck/DEIMOS spectroscopic campaign of eight Milky Way dwarf spheroidal (dSph) satellite galaxies is a catalog of nearly 3000 red giants with spectral synthesis-based abundance measurements of Fe and the α elements Mg, Si, Ca, and Ti. The dSph metallicity distributions show that the histories of the less luminous dSphs were marked by massive amounts of metal loss. The [α/Fe] distributions reveal that the early star formation histories (at a lookback time of >12 Gyr) of most dSphs were very similar and that Type Ia supernova ejecta contributed to the abundances of all but the most metal-poor ([Fe/H] < −2.5) stars. This large data set allows inferences of past outflows from the dSphs in order to determine their contribution to the metal content of the intergalactic medium.